After two heart-breaking defeats in the Main Round, first against Brazil, then against Germany, Croatia remained without semi-finals. However, they still had one very important match, which was important for qualifications for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. Cervar’s team played against France, and the head coach called up Lovro Jotic from PPD Zagreb, due to injury of Luka Cindric.

Main Round: France – Croatia 20:23 (11:11)
France have already secured a place in the semi-finals, and Didier Dinart admitted they were not going to risk any injuries and will play safely against Croatia. On the other hand, Croatia kept their intensity and bravely fought once again. It resulted in a victory that is always positively greeted by the fans in Croatia that know how strong French team is. Croatia had the lead for almost the entire match, played well in defense and simply managed to score the goals when it was needed the most. SEHA players played very well, especially PPD Zagreb’s Zlatko Horvat who had a match-high 7 goals. His club teammate David Mandic followed him with 4 goals, Vardar’s Igor Karacic scored 2 goals and Nexe’s Marin Sipic added 1. Croatia will now play for 5th place, while France are going to have a chance to defend the gold they won two years ago.